Clockwork: Dominion is a steampunk roleplaying game set in a Victorian world of gothic horror. Players take the role of exceptional individuals within the British Empire of 1896 as it strives to maintain tradition in the face of scientific advancement, powerful mystical practices, and the threat of the Pontus—the primordial chaos which is slowly reclaiming creation.

Stories in Clockwork: Dominion can see characters struggling against the supernatural horrors of a decaying world, building and destroying reputations so that they may ascend the social hierarchy, or anything in between. The Quick-Start Rules cover all the basics of the system:

An intuitive card-based core mechanic keeps the action fast and fluid. The rules are simple and easy to learn, but robust enough to allow for infinite imaginative possibilities. It is truly a system where player creativity is not penalized, and the core mechanics support specialized actions such as feinting or grappling without players needing to learn extra rules.

Clockwork’s social conflict system enables the complex world of Victorian social politics to be the center piece of your story. Characters have the equally satisfying options of solving their disputes with words or guns. The system allows for social conflict to flow into physical conflict, and even back again if the characters are good negotiators or intimidators. Hence, strong social characters are just as valuable to the game, even in physical conflict.

The card-based Initiative system allows characters to act at any given moment, and gives them the ability to immediately react to any actions taken against them. This frees social and physical conflicts from being linearly structured and allows them to flow more like players would naturally tell a story.

The Quick Start Rules, Intro Adventure, and Print-and-Play Cards

This free PDF contains everything you need to start playing. It includes basic rules, printable artless Clockwork Cards, and the full-length adventure "Idle Hands"complete and ready to play with six pre-made character.

Full color, printed Clockwork Cards featuring beautiful illustrations and art are also available for purchase, and are a great way to bring a bit of 1896 elegance to your game table.

This Quick-Start-Rules contain the beta version of the Clockwork Roleplaying Game. There are minor changes between the rules presented here and the newest verison of the rules found in the Clockwork: Dominion Core Rulebook! We are currently working on updating the QSR with new artwork, more current rules, and more information. However, the current version is still a great way to get a free introduction to the Clockwork.

At Temple Con ( February 2012), I was lucky enough to join in on a beta game of Clockwork: Empire led by one of the creators, Nathaniel Dean. My friends and I absolutely loved the game and set up another opportunity to play a couple of weeks later at [...]

The Quick Start Rules are well laid out, but can be a little confusing at first. The overall mechanic for everything from task resolution to Social conflict is pretty straight forward, add all applicable modifiers and draw a card, if you get a value [...]

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